Vandal resistant laminate

[Humble PM]

Finished a (for us) pretty large set of portraits 20x 1000x2000mm portraits - printed, laminated, mounted (wrapped) on 3mm DiBond - that were installed in a local local square, a couple of weeks ago.

Last night someone took a utility knife to them all, taking out the eyes.

Anyone know of a laminate that can protect against a psycho with a utility knife?

Bonus points for being sufficiently conformable to wrap round the back, and available left pond.

 

[FASTSIGNS]

I don't think there is a laminate. How about a clear acrylic "cover". Or a direct print?

 

[Humble PM]

That's what I suspected, though was wondering about the protective film that gets applied to train etc windows. I imagine this would not wrap well around the back.

The prints are in powder coated free-standing frames, that have not been designed with a retention mechanism for acrylic, and given the aggression with which they've been treated, I doubt a direct print would stand up particularly well.

 

[Gino]

Besides someone standing there in the shadows with a baseball bat, ya might try surveillance cameras.

 

[Humble PM]

There are cameras on the square*, but I don't think they would stop this person.
They might catch the people liberating the bat from the hired shadow stander.

The insurance company from the end client, the council (opposite the town hall!) and the police are checking footage, so we may get to redo all the work. Sigh.

 

[Humble PM]

Big celebration of the Windrush elders is due in 6 days time, and I can't schedule material deliveries until Monday, which makes production physically beyond my capacity (redoing the work would be 40+ hours, plus instal).
I'm thinking of reprinting the vinyl of the portrait only, and laminating, possibly with a ppf film - perhaps not - in situ for next Thursday's event.
Thought is to slash one of my test pieces in the print room (small section), try sanding with ?300grit?, and apply a patch over the portraits. If this works, then test on one of the pieces in situ. To add to the repair fun, the fucker also applied paint (type tbc).

Dumb idea?

The dibond pieces are held place with 3m Duolock, as we were considering the need to replace the odd piece in the future, just not the whole freaking set.

 

[Gino]

Seems to be a common theme. Those scratches will telegraph through, so while you won't see the actual scratches, you'll see lumps and stuff.

You'd also hafta replace the green painted areas and number ones.

 

[Humble PM]

I know.
I'm gonna test, and if test passes, try on one live one. We don't have time available for a complete redo, but just enough time for a patch job, for the big event.
Hopefully, in the interim, the troubled soul will be removed from the locale.

 

[ss5520]

if someone want to damage something they will always find a way, no matter what you do. But probably your best option is to reverse print on an acrylic sheet, can be same thickness as the dibond you installed and put mounting tape on the back, you can even put a styrene backer on it. But ultimately if someone wants to damage it they will find a way.